Day One: SS1 Langley Superspecial Stage.
A record 96 entries rolled over the start ramp at the spectacular Langley
Park superspecial stage, situated in the middle of Perth, Western Australia.
This evening stage attracted a capacity audience who were entertained by
some enthusiastic rally driving. Toyota had send 4 cars for this event,
Subaru 3 and Ford & Mitsubishi two each. However, probably the most
interest generated that night was an entry by Michael Kahlfuss and Ronald
Bauer who drove a 560cc 2 stroke two cylinder VEB Sachsen Trabant! Auriol
equalled Kankunnen's 1993 time of 1m 35s and by the end of the evening,
Toyota held first, second and third, courtesy of Kankunnen and Schwarz.

Day One: SS2 - SS13.
The first 'real' day of the rally saw the competitors tackle nearly 200km of
special stages; many of which contained the infamous "ball-bearing" gravel.
Auriol began well and set the fastest time on the SS2 Myara stage. The
Imprezas looked a bit techy on the slippery surfaces and McRae, the fastest
of the 555 trio, was a good 12s behind the leader. Fortune did not smile on
the Subaru's. Possum Bourne rolled his car several times on the next stage
which effectively put an end to his Asia-Pacific title hopes. Carlos Sainz
had trouble maintaining the pace after such a lengthy absence from gravel
competition and a punctured radiator on the 45km SS8 Wellington Dam stage
ended his rally shortly after.
Auriol looked good for a while until he rolled his car on SS12 Murray
River. Damage was minimal and the car was soon back on the road. However,
a broken alternator belt sustained during the roll cut the electronic in the
car and his rally was also over. Kankunnen showed his form and a string of
fastest times saw him lead the rest of the pack back to the Langley Park
superstage. The evening ended with another fastest time by the Finn who
lead McRae, Eriksson and Makinen. However, only 29 seconds separated the
first four cars with 2 days to go.

Day 2: SS14 - SS20.
Day 2 of the rally saw the drivers tackle two stages in the hilly area north
of Perth before heading south for 5 stages in the Bunnings timber complex.
These stages proved hugely popular this year with a sellout crowd and huge
traffic jams par for the course. Eriksson got the ball rolling with two
fastest times for SS14 and SS15. Kankunnen's lead had vanished by the time
the time the Bunnings stages got underway and a real fight began to emerge
between Eriksson and McRae. Eriksson, opting for a softer suspension
setting, easily outgunned the Toyota of Kankunnen but McRae began to charge
and soon joined Eriksson as co-leader. Kankunnen clearly had suspension
problems with his car and his mechanics worked frantically to solve the
problem. SS18 Bunnings West saw the spectacular demise of Francois Delecour
who slid wide about 1km from the end of the stage and collided head-on with
a tree. Armin Schwarz, on the other hand, found his rhythm and set the
fastest time for this stage. Kankunnen and Schwarz set the fastest times
for the final spin around Langley later that night (1m 37s). However, the
evening ended with a blazing run by McRae which again put him in equal first
with Eriksson. Eriksson would have the job of leading the cars out the
following morning since he had set a quicker time than McRae on the first
day of the rally.

Day 3: SS22 - SS30.
The scrap between Eriksson and McRae began badly for McRae who stalled the
Subaru's engine on the first stage and allowing Eriksson to maintain a 7 sec
lead. McRae managed to reduce the deficit to 4 sec on the third stage of
the day but it all came a bit unstuck on the next stage. Eriksson drove a
fantastic sprint and took 9 sec off McRae and also set a new stage record.
Kankunnen was still hanging in there but at over 1 min behind, never really
posed a threat.
The competitors tackled the Muresk special stage twice in a row this year,
with cars starting 2 min apart and the lead cars being re-inserted into the
lineup at 1 min intervals. Great stuff!. By the end of SS29 Mt
Observation, Eriksson had extended his lead over McRae to 24 sec but the
Scotsman wouldn't give up. McRae flew through the final stage of the rally
but ran wide on a corner and lost any time he had made up. Eriksson and
Parmander has won the rally by a close/comfortable 19 sec after 3 days and
500km of special stage rallying.

PS: The Trabby finished the rally and came 45th outright (time 7:49.17).